ILFRACOMBE

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"ILFRACOMBE, an ancient sea port and market town, and the most picturesque and fashionable bathing place on the north coast of Devon, is distant about 10 miles N. by W. of Barnstaple, 5 [sic] miles N.W. by N. of Exeter, and 200 miles W. by S. of London. It is built partly at the bottom and partly on the side and summit of a steep acclivity, and till about 30 years ago, it consisted chiefly of one long street, but since then it has risen to great celebrity as a watering place, and for the accommodation of the numerous visitors, many rows of neat houses and handsome marine villas have been built on the terraces; hot and cold baths and a commodious suit of public rooms have been erected; and tunnels have been cut through the rocky cliffs to the fine beach and coves of Crewkhorne, which affords better and more retired places for sea-bathing than Wildersmouth, the old bathing place. . . The parish of Ilfracombe comprises 5583 acres of land, rising in bold hills from the coast, and including many scattered farm-houses, and the small hamlets, &c., of Damage, Campscott, Slade, Warcombe, and Lincombe. Its population amounted in 1801 to 1838; in 1811 to 1934; in 1821 to 2622; in 1831 to 3201; and in 1841 to 3620, but it has now more than 4000 souls." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

A parish in Braunton Hundred, the Archdeaconry of Barnstaple, and the Diocese of Exeter.

Shepherd, W. Memoir of the Last Illness and Death of the Late William Tharp Buchanan, Esq. of Ilfracombe, Religious Tract Society (1837) viii + 112 pp. [Contents]

Tardif, Phillip. John Bowen's Hobart: the beginning of European settlement in Tasmania Tasmanian Historical Research Association Inc. PO Box 441, Sandy Bay, Tasmania 7006 (2003) 244p. [ISBN 0-909479-22-4] [Bowen's family came from Ilfracombe originally, though he was born in London]

MIs for this parish are included in the Incledon index - see under Cemeteries on the main Devon page.

The Ilfracombe Museum has a complete name index of the graves at Holy Trinity Church, together with a full MI for each marked grave, and also an index and plan of graves at the Score (Non-Conformist) Cemetery in Ilfracombe.

The Devon FHS publishes indexes covering (as of June 2004): Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1813-1837, together with Ilfracombe Independent Chapel Marriages 1754-1837, and Burials 1827 - for details see their book list.

Lammas, Edwin, pub. Ilfracombe as it is, or the Stranger's Guide: with a Descriptive Arrangement of Excursions in the Vicinity, and a list of Roads, with their Distances to and from Ilfracombe, Edwn Lammas (1839) 76 pp.

Banfield, J., of Ilfracombe, Eng., pub. A guide to Ilfracombe, Lynton, Clovelly, and the neighbouring towns, comprehending a general sketch of the history & objects most worthy of remark in that part of the north of Devon. (Illustrated with a map of the north of Devon and a plan of the town.) Ilfracombe, Printed by J. Banfield, (1830), vi, 54 pp. [Index]

Banfield, J., of Ilfracombe, Eng., pub. A guide to Ilfracombe, Lynton, Clovelly, and the neighbouring towns, comprehending a general sketch of the history & objects most worthy of remark in that part of the north of Devon. (A new ed. illustrated with a map of the north of Devon and a plan of the town.) Ilfracombe, Printed by J. Banfield (1840), xvi, 106 pp. incl. tab. front. (fold. map) plan. 17 cm. [Full text]

Wilson, Lilian. Ilfracombe's yesterdays: a personal record of our local way of life and history, with a guide to some places of interest in other parts of North Devon. Barnstaple, North Devon: Adrienne and Peter Oldale,1976, 96 pp.

West Briton Newspaper, 29 August 1845, Devon Family Historian, vol. 126, (2008) pp.17. [Reports of accidental deaths of a Mr Bundock of Paignton, on arrival in Australia, and of Edward Stevens of Ilfracome, who died saving a Miss Bailey from drowning]

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